In recent years, the idea that one should know exactly what their food is made of and
whether or not it is organic have come to the forefront of American society. Joel Salatin is an
author who has written books on this topic while arguing for healthy foods made up of organic
and non-foreign ingredients. In his novel Food Inc., he includes a section entitled 'Declare Your
Independence' in which he makes a case against artificial or unnatural foods. He also argues for
natural foods and different, more environmentally friendly oriented farming practices. To help
convince readers to his side of the debate, Salatin utilizes the rhetorical devices of logos, ethos,
and pathos. He uses logos to convince his audience that his argument is valid with reasoning and
relevance. Both situated and invented ethos are employed by the inclusion of concrete examples
of his own farming practices. Salatin applies pathos to his argument in the language and
examples he includes. By making an argument that incorporates logos, ethos, and pathos, Salatin
is very successful at convincing readers that his case against foreign foods and corporation
involvement is valid and true.

Salatin's usage of deductive reasoning helps convince readers of its accuracy by logically
compartmentalizing his argument in a top-down approach that is easy for anyone to understand
and follow. He begins by giving a summary of exactly what he will discuss in the very second
paragraph of this section. Salatin writes that he hopes humanity is, 'ready to challenge the
paradigm of factory-produced food and to return to a more natural, wholesome, and sustainable
way of eating and living to make that declaration to the powers that be, in business and
government, that established the existing system and continue to prop it up' (Salatin 187). These
topics he mentions, such as the history of agriculture and food production, the interference of
businesses and the government, and what one can personally do to change, are major premises,
or classes, which are paired with minor premises to create a logical conclusion.

One example of a major premise combining with a minor premise is the idea of opting
out, which is in the broad class of how one can make a difference in their eating habits. In
regards to this general topic, Salatin says, 'the most powerful force you and I can exert on the
system is to opt out. Just declare that we will not participate' (192). Then, Salatin supplies the
reader with four minor premises, which are ways to opt out: to cook by oneself, to buy
ingredients locally, to purchase food that is in season, and to have a personal garden. If one pairs
these minor premises with the larger class of opting out, it is easy to come to the conclusion that
anyone can make a change in their dietary habits for good. Salatin does this to logically make his
case more successful and believable while being sincere and trustworthy.

In regards to opting out, Salatin effectively refutes false reasoning that states it is difficult
to eat healthy, natural, and non-commercialized food products. He acknowledges that many
American families, if not the majority, eat mainly pre-prepared meals and rarely cook for
themselves or their family. He thinks this is a horrible statistic due to how easy it is to stop
relying on pre-cooked food items and instead to eat mainly natural products. In consideration of
this, he states, 'Not everything can be grown locally, but the lion's share of what you eat
certainly can' (194). He also states that American should, 'grow some of your own [food]'
(195). This is a straightforward way for Americans to ensure their food is safe and organic and
that their food independence is intact. The simplicity and believability of his case make Salatin's
argument more successful.

The usage of situated ethos by Salatin helps to convince the audience that he is
knowledgeable about farming techniques and can be trusted in regard to that topic. Salatin draws
on this by including examples and information from his work on his own farm. More than once,
he informs the audience of the fact that he does have a successful and environmentally friendly
farm. In one instance he does this by describing conditions of the land and cows on his farm:
'We move the cows every day from paddock to paddock, allowing the forage to regenerate
completely through its growth curve, metabolizing solar energy into biomass' (190). This
description grows Salatin's situated ethos by proving his mastery of unconventional farming
practices and therefore makes the audience trust his knowledge, beliefs, and arguments about
various ways of farming.

In order to create a convincing case, Salatin had to make a strong invented ethos along
with his situated ethos. He does this by stating examples of how anyone can easily work towards
food sustainability and the freedom of food choices. With the examples of his own farming
practices as stated above, he makes himself out to be both a relatable and also a believable
authority figure. Another way Salatin makes himself reliable and his argument successful is to
elaborate on 4 simple to rely less on commercialized and foreign products. The first two are to
'rediscover our kitchens and quit buying prepared foods' [and] purchase as directly as possible
from your local farmer' (193). The final recommendations Salatin supplies are to 'eat
seasonally' [and] grow some [food] of your own' (195). By stating these four options, he is
acting as a teacher to the readers. Just as a math instructor leads his students to an answer in a
word problem, Salatin guides the audience to ways they can better their own eating habits and
regain their food independence.

Finally, Salatin successfully uses pathos to help appeal to the audience's emotions in a
ploy to convince them of the evils of commercial farming and unnatural food products. He
engages incredibly powerful vocabulary to make his stance on this topic incredibly clear. Salatin
describes commercial farmers views on pigs and other farm animals by saying, 'today's
industrial food system views pigs as merely inanimate piles of protoplasmic molecular structure
to be manipulated with whatever cleverness the egocentric human mind can conceive' (190).
Specifically, the words of 'protoplasmic molecular structure' are included to make the audience
link together those complex, seemingly unnatural words along with commercial farming. This
repulsion to commercial farming will lead the readers to a desire to eat organic, locally grown
food.

Salatin's ability to anticipate the reader's possible emotional response and make sure his
argument appealed to them helps to make his argument convincing. Because Salatin knows he is
writing for a mainly American audience, he includes a plethora of language about freedom to
appeal to the desire of it. He asks, 'What could be a more basic freedom than the freedom to
choose what to feed my three-trillion-member internal community?' (189). Salatin argues that
the freedom to eat healthy foods that are not commercialized has been taken away from
Americans and that they must reclaim it. Along with this innate want for freedom, the
population's desire to not cause unnatural harm to animals is also mentioned by Salatin. He
describes conditions on commercialized farms: 'The industrial pig growers are even trying to
find the stress gene so it can be taken out of the pig's DNA. That way the pigs can be abused but
won't be stressed about it. Then they can be crammed in even tighter quarters without
cannibalizing and getting sick' (190). This idea that any animal could be mistreated in this way
should disgust readers. Salatin's inclusion of this information appeals to the readers' emotions
and therefore makes his point.

Salatin uses the techniques of logos, ethos, and pathos to create a persuasive argument in
regards to changing ones eating habits. In regards to logos, he utilizes deductive reasoning with
major premises and minor premises to create a top-down format. Salatin also rebuts false
reasoning that says eating commercialized food is easier than the alternative of healthy and
organic foods. He supplies the audience with advice on exactly what they can do to eat better.
Both situated and invented ethos are included to make Salatin appear as a more reliable,
relatable, and believable source, which makes the argument more successful as a whole at
convincing readers. Pathos is another rhetorical technique effectively used by Salatin to appeal to
the readers' emotions so they will agree with it. Because Salatin expected the audience to have
certain emotions regarding natural food products, he was able to write in a way that appeals to
those emotions and leads his argument to be even more convincing. Overall, Salatin's usage of
logos, ethos, and pathos make his argument of opting out and food freedom incredibly persuasive
and successful.
